Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister V D Satheesan on Tuesday assured full protection and ownership rights for residents of Munambam, while alleging that the previous Left government’s politically appointed Waqf Board had complicated the ongoing land dispute.
Addressing a press conference, Satheesan said the issue could have been resolved “within 10 minutes”, but was instead prolonged due to administrative and legal complications.
He said the government was examining legal steps regarding the Waqf Board’s registration of the disputed land on the Centre’s ‘UMEED’ portal. He alleged that the land was entered on the portal in violation of legal provisions and claimed that such registration should have been carried out by the “mutawalli”, the caretaker or administrator of a waqf property.
Satheesan further alleged that while ministers in the previous Left government had assured Munambam residents they would not be evicted, the Waqf Board appointed during the same period took the position that the land was waqf property. “So, they have cheated the people in Munambam,” he said.
The Chief Minister also claimed that the Congress-led UDF had intervened earlier when the BJP attempted to use the issue to create divisions between religious communities. He said IUML state president Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal and senior leader P K Kunhalikutty had met the Varapuzha Archbishop and assured that no one would be evicted.
“However, the Left government adopted a position that aided the Sangh Parivar agenda,” he alleged.
Satheesan reiterated that residents would not be evicted and said the government would take precise legal interventions. “There will be no circumstance in which the poor people there will be thrown out,” he said.
His remarks come amid a political row in Kerala after the Kerala State Waqf Board registered the disputed land in Munambam—where most residents belong to the Christian community—on the UMEED portal.
Meanwhile, Kerala State Waqf Board Chairman K S Hamza clarified that the registration was part of a technical and legal procedure and would not decide final ownership of the property.
Hamza said the registration was mandatory and had to be completed before May 17, adding that final ownership would depend on government and court decisions.
The Munambam dispute relates to a long-standing conflict over around 404 acres of land in Ernakulam district concerning ownership and classification. The property was reportedly managed by Farook College and later claimed by the Waqf Board as waqf land.
With PTI inputs